"Zen Buddhism was introduced to Japan from India via China in 1192. The monk Eisai built the first Zen temple in Japan. Zen Buddhism appealed to the samurai class and became a symbol of samurai simplicity, which quickly seeped into Japanese life. It gave rise to the tea ceremony, a simple aesthetic with an emphasis on extreme self-control – it can be said that Zen is the soul of Japan. ”

On the way, Elder Shi Deyin whispered information about Japanese Zen Buddhism to Wang Zhong.

"Japanese Zen Buddhism is also known as the religion of the samurai, and the popularity of Zen Buddhism among the Japanese samurai to the point of becoming the 'religion of the samurai' is, as mentioned earlier, mainly related to their practice and the social environment under the rule of the shogunate. In addition, many of the religious qualities of Zen Buddhism are also believed to coincide with the spirit of bushido. For example, the Zen monk's idea of treating death as home, life and death as the same, has a great impact on the samurai's spirit of loyalty, filial piety, martial bravery, and fearlessness of life and death. Another example is Zen Buddhism, which aims to overcome the desire to indulge in selfish desires, which is also very similar to the integrity advocated by samurai. In addition, Zen Buddhism translates the teachings of Buddhism into concrete daily life, carrying firewood and water, which are all Buddhist things. This simple and easy method was even more popular with the majority of samurai.

In short, the virtues of Japanese bushido are based on loyalty, filial piety, martial bravery, compassion, courtesy, diligence and thrift, and quality. And these contents + ⊙ can be said to be almost all in line with the teachings of Zen Buddhism, so after Zen Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China, it further stimulated the spirit of bushido in Japan, and was widely popular among the samurai class, and was even set as the basic method to complete the cultivation of samurai personality. The samurai paid attention to the practice of Zen Buddhism, and the high monks of Zen Buddhism may have been respected and supported by the shoguns and samurai, whether they were 'Rinzai shoguns' or 'Soto natives'. This is one of the reasons why Zen Buddhism has been able to maintain its prosperity in the nearly 700 years of shogunate administration.

That's why I asked you to come with me!"

"I see!"

Wang Zhong nodded clearly, although Japanese Zen Buddhism originated from Middle Earth, but after it was fused with the local bushido spirit, it still changed a lot. Regardless of whether this change is good or bad, it is a kind of estrangement for the exchange of Zen Buddhism between China and Japan.

Therefore, Elder Shi Deyin wants Wang Zhong to act as a lubricant!

When the two sides have a sharp conflict of views, they can come forward to mediate, after all, Wang Zhong now has a special place in the hearts of Japanese samurai!

Under the guidance of Wang Zhong and Shi Deyin's attendants, they slowly walked into the dry landscape garden, which is known as the Zen garden. ！

This Zen garden has a special place in Japan because most of Japan's great Zen masters practice here!

Karesansui Gardens are miniature gardens originating from mainland Japan, and are often found in small, quiet, and deep Zen temples. In its unique environmental atmosphere, the white sand stone paving made of fine raking and stacking several stone groups can have a magical power on people's mood. Like music, painting, and literature, it can express deep philosophies. And many of these ideas come from the teachings of Zen Buddhism, which are also closely related to the introduction of ancient continental culture.

In response to the asceticism and self-discipline pursued by Zen practitioners, Japanese gardens began to abandon the traditional pond gardens and instead use static and unchanging elements such as evergreen trees, moss, sand, and gravel to create a dry landscape garden, with almost no flowering plants in the garden, in order to achieve the purpose of self-cultivation.

Therefore, in the Zen courtyard, trees, rocks, sky, land, etc., often contain profound meanings with just a few strokes. In the eyes of cultivators, they are oceans, mountains, islands, waterfalls, a sand and a world, and such a garden is tantamount to a spiritual garden. Later, the development of this kind of gardening became more and more complete - trees and shrubs, small bridges, islands, and even water bodies that are indispensable to the garden were all eliminated. Leaving only rocks, raked gravel, and patches of moss that grow spontaneously and shade are the main components of a typical Japanese dry landscape garden that is still popular today. The power of this dry landscape garden to the human spirit is also amazing.

Wang Zhong and Elder Shi Deyin walked in the garden, these seemingly ordinary mountain rocks in the eyes of ordinary people, in the eyes of Elder Shi Deyin. But it's full of Zen rhyme!

It's hard to put into words!

When Elder Shi Deyin comprehended the Zen rhyme between the mountains and rivers, the Japanese monks led by the Zen monk Toshiaki Higashino were also observing Wang Zhong's every move!

"Dry landscape, as the name suggests. "Shanshui" must have mountains and water, and "withering" means dry, and the two together seem to be a shield, but as everyone knows, it is one of the most distinctive forms of gardening in Japan. The so-called dry landscape is that there is no real mountain and water, several large and small stones are dotted in a piece of white sand, and the surface of the white sand is raked out of round and long stripes, which looks intriguing. When appreciating, you need to sit in the aisle in front of the court, watch slowly, and ponder carefully, so that you can gradually comprehend. In short, the stone represents the mountain, the island, and the boat, the white sand represents the water, and the stripes on the sand represent the ripples of the water. On the whole, it is a miniature landscape world with mountains, rivers and boats.

The "Karesansui Garden" is a Zen garden. Zen is a belief in seeking truth from within oneself rather than from without, and Zen monks have nothing and live a simple life, and they have to meditate on the wall for a long time every day in order to attain enlightenment. The "Karesansui Garden" was originally designed for their spiritual practice. In the empty courtyard, only the black and slimy rocks stand alone on a rake of white sand, and even tourists who are walking around to see the flowers will involuntarily sit down and let their thoughts unfold at will. ”

Elder Shi Deyin kept instilling some Zen ideas into Wang Zhong in the garden, and Wang Zhong did not reject it, and listened with a smile. He is already smart, and he has no distractions in his heart, and he has learned a lot of things when he teaches and learns!

"How do you feel about this garden?"

While teaching Wang Zhong's Zen teachings, Shi Deyin did not forget to ask questions.

"The garden is like a rock in a river or a mythical island, but it is also a masterpiece from an aesthetic point of view: it balances grouping, balance, movement and rhythm, and its overall layout is so harmonious that the slightest movement of a stone can ruin the overall effect of the garden. Tong Guò skillfully uses scale and perspective to create a river channel with rocks and gravel. The center stone here is either upright like a screen, or staggered like a door, or stacked like a step, and its stone is exquisitely skilled, when the viewer looks at it from afar. You can clearly feel the water flowing between the towering cliffs and the shallow bridges. ”

"Not bad!"

Shi Deyin nodded with satisfaction and said with an appreciative face.

"Wang Tanyue is really perceptive!"

As soon as Wang Zhong's voice landed, Toshiaki Hino, who had been hidden in the dark, also walked out and affirmed Wang Zhong's enlightenment!

"The two of them have traveled thousands of miles to come here, and the little monk is very grateful, please go to the meditation hall for tea!"

Toshiaki Higano said with a smile.

Toshiaki Higano said to eat tea but not drink tea!

There are allusions in it.

"Let's have tea!"

Shi Deyin looked at Toshiaki Kushino and said Zen machine.

Although the three words of eating tea are simple and popular, they have this kind of power that points directly to people's hearts!

In the Tang Dynasty, the Zen master Congchen presided over this Zen temple (then called Guanyin Temple) for 40 years. There are several famous Zen public cases such as "eating tea" and "cypress tree in front of the court". The most famous is the "Eat Tea Go" public case. More than 1,000 years ago, two monks came to the monastery from afar to ask a Zen master for advice on how to be Zen.

The Zen master asked one of them.

"Have you been here before?"

The man replied:

"Didn't come. ”

Zen Master Zhaozhou said:

"Let's have tea!"

The Zen master turned to another monk and asked:

"Have you been here?"

The monk said, "I have been here before. ”

The Zen master said, "Eat tea!"

Then

The prison that led the two monks to the Zen Master of Zhaozhou asked curiously:

"Zen master, why did you let him eat tea when he came, and you let him eat tea if you never came?"

The Zen master called the name of the prison, and the prison agreed, and the Zen master Zhaozhou said:

"Let's have tea!"

The three words "eat tea and go" have always been opinionated. These three characters of Zen have the power to point directly to the hearts of the people, and thus laid the foundation for the Berlin Zen Temple to be the hometown of "Zen tea".

"Let's have tea!"

Toshiaki Higano also smiled, said with a smile, and walked away hand in hand with Shi Deyin. Only Wang Zhong was left with a blank face.

Wang Zhong pondered alone in the courtyard for a long time, and then seemed to let go of something, and a happy smile appeared on his face, and he walked freely in the direction where the two left.

"Tan Yue. What are you going to do?"

The accompanying Japanese monk asked curiously.

"Let's have tea!"

Wang Zhong smiled and said with a smile.

When Wang Zhong arrived in the meditation room, he looked at him with a relieved look on his face. Elder Shi Deyin and Toshiaki Kashino had already brewed the fragrant tea, and when they saw Wang Zhong coming, their eyes showed a look of joy.

The "Zen Tea Ceremony" of the "Four Great Tea Ceremony" monks have a long history of drinking tea, because tea has "three virtues", which is conducive to the practice of the jungle, and the "virtue of tea" gives birth to the Zen tea ceremony. The monks planted, made, drank and developed famous tea, which made immortal contributions to the development of Chinese tea production, the development of tea science, and the formation of tea ceremony. The Japanese tea ceremony is basically a Zen tea ceremony, which originated in China but is better than the blue. ”

Toshiaki Higano personally poured a cup of tea for the two of them, and said proudly.

"Why do monks love tea?"

Wang Zhong asked curiously.

"Its tea ceremony is born from the virtue of tea. Buddhism believes that "tea has three virtues", sitting meditation sleepless all night, helping digestion when the stomach is full, and tea can inhibit**. These three are based on experience. The doctrine of Buddha was introduced into China and became a unique Zen Buddhism, and the daily practice of Zen monks and monks is zazen, which requires meditation and concentration of the mind, so as to achieve "light peace" in body and mind, and "clear and pure". Its posture should be the head straight and the back straight, "do not move, do not shake, do not lean", usually sit in meditation is March, the old monk is difficult to insist, the little monk is young and sleepy, more difficult to boil, drinking tea can be refreshing and exorcise the sleeping demon; after the meal on the sitting meditation, susceptible to indigestion, drinking tea can be born and food; although the Buddha is a pure place, but not stained with red dust can not do, and not to say that the young monk is in the prime of adolescence is inevitable to think about it, that is, the old monk sees the beautiful woman who worships the Buddha is also inevitable and does not keep his mind, drinking tea can both divert attention and inhibit ** It is the preferred drink of Buddhism. ”

Elder Shi Deyin explained to Wang Zhong with a smile.

"I see, if you want to come to Daomen and like to drink tea, there should be a reason for this!"

Wang Zhong nodded lightly, indicating that he understood.

"The Japanese tea ceremony is a ritual in Japan where tea is served to guests. It was originally called "tea soup". The Japanese tea ceremony, like other East Asian tea rituals, is a special culture that developed mainly around tea tasting, but it differs in content and form. The history of the tea ceremony dates back to the 13th century. Originally, it was the monks who used tea to concentrate their thoughts, and the Tang Dynasty Zhaozhou Cong Tan Zen Master once used to "eat tea" to attract scholars, and later it became a ritual to share tea food. Nowadays, there are two types of Japanese tea ceremony: matcha ceremony and sencha ceremony, but the term tea ceremony refers to the matcha ceremony that developed earlier.

In the modern tea ceremony, tea and snacks are prepared by the host, as well as fruits, and the guests follow fixed rules and procedures. In addition to food, the spirit of the tea ceremony extends to the interior and exterior of the tea room, and the focus of the tea ceremony is the decoration of calligraphy and painting in the tea room, the gardening of the garden, and the pottery for drinking tea. ”

Toshiaki Higano added with a smile.

"The tea ceremony originated in China and is promoted in Japan!"

Although Wang Zhong was a little unhappy in his heart, he also had to admit that Japan's tea ceremony was indeed ahead of China!

The Japanese tea ceremony originated in China and has a charm of oriental culture. It has its own formation, development process and unique connotation.

The tea ceremony has evolved from a mere fun and entertainment to a norm and ideal for the daily life and culture of the Japanese people.

Wang Zhong saw that Shi Deyin and Toshiaki Hino had a tacit understanding, so he didn't say anything, just quietly sipping tea!

There are cumbersome procedures for the tea ceremony, the tea leaves should be finely grinded, the tea utensils should be cleaned, and the host's movements should be standardized, which should not only have a dance-like rhythm and elegantness, but also be accurate and in place.

Toshiaki Higano has been immersed in the tea ceremony for decades, and both the technique and cultivation are first-class!

For Wang Zhong, both taste and vision are a kind of enjoyment!

But this time for Wang Zhong, it is also a failure!

Participated in a confused negotiation!

Come in a daze, go in a daze!

What tacit understanding has been reached within Zen Buddhism, Wang Zhong doesn't know anything!

However, even if Shi Deyin and Toshiaki Kashino did not reveal anything, Wang Zhong could guess some of them, and the influence of Japanese Zen Buddhism in the world has gradually weakened since the death of Suzuki Daisuke!

And the influence of Shaolin Zen Buddhism is gradually increasing!

It was only a matter of time before Chinese Zen replaced Japanese Zen!

The cooperation between the two sects is beneficial to both parties, and with the help of Japanese Zen Buddhism, Chinese Zen Buddhism can have a great influence in the world in a short period of time!

Japanese Zen Buddhism can also use Chinese Zen Buddhism to slowly recuperate and wait for the opportunity to rise again......!